Encounters
by Misomio
Summary: This is a Pre-FFXIII. Mainly revolves around Lightning and Serah and their SISTERLY relationship. Give me your feed back :D
1. Chapter 1

Lightning walks around the group of sitting adolescents, glaring each one of them in the eye as she walks past them. She pauses at the one which seems to be acknowledged as their leader. The sudden halt in her stride makes the blonde shift his eyes vertically, forced to meet Lightning's menacing glare.

"What were you thinking? Interfering with the Guardian Corps, especially on a mission?"

The blonde readies to defend his position in the argument, "All we were doing-"

Briskly, Lightning kneels down to eye level of the boy, she cuts in, "Let me answer that question for you, you weren't thinking."

The blonde youth was surprised by the speed the soldier movements, but he regained his composer quickly, mustering the courage to keep eye contact with her pale blue eyes.

The sun begins to rise, illuminating the streets of Bodhum. Sunlight begins to flood into the mouth of the alley where this excursion is occurring.

Lightning walks to the entrance of the alley and gazes at the morning sun. _**Damn**__, _she thinks_, __**time to wrap this up.**_

"What's your name, kid?" Lightning scowls.

"Snow, Snow Villiers. This is my group, NORA." He states, still keeping eye contact with lightning.

"Well Snow Villiers, next time there is a known criminal who is notorious for kidnapping and murdering after dark," she pauses to turn to the tied up man who in unconscious by a dumpster, "be a good civilian and leave it to the professionals. Now get lost and don't let me see you again, for your own safety."

The group of adolescents stands up and runs. As Snow begins to run after them, he mutters, "Sanctum dog," Under his breath, but just loud enough for Lightning to hear.

_**If I see that punk again…**_ Lightning thinks as she grabs the unconscious man, slings him over her shoulder, and runs back to headquarters. She hopes she can make it back before the populous begin their morning commute.

6:45 am. Lightning burst through the doors of the Guardian Corps Bodhum Branch. She walks to Lieutenant Amodar.

"Here take this." She flings the unconscious criminal into Amodar's arms and begins pacing for the door.

"Geez Farron. It's not even my birthday. What took your mission so long? I assigned it to you yesterday." He asks while holding the fugitive bridal style in the middle of the lobby.

Lightning stops and ponders how to answer the question. She gazes up at the clock. _**6:50!**_She thinks.

"I'm sorry, lieutenant, but I really need to get home." She mumbles to her superior as she begins striding for the door.

"No matter," Amodar say, "I'll ask you when you come in for work today. Remember Farron, I want to hear your report first thing when you come in, in…" Amodar counts "three hours."

Lightning runs home.

_**Who knows? Maybe Serah will wake up by herself today.**_Lightning thinks.

She runs past stores beginning to open for business. Narrowly avoids a car that didn't stop far enough back for a stop sign, and slides around a myriad of pedestrians. She turns the corner onto her street.

_**6:58. I can still make it.**_Lightning sprints for the last 100 meters. Jump up the stone path to her house and nearly breaks down her front door, but she remembered she has keys this time.

She lethargically removes her army issue boots before stepping on her wood floor. Fatigue is beginning to hit Lightning. She walks down the hallway and gently opens Serah's door. Lightning peers her head around the door to see Serah's light pink painted room. Her desk by her bed is littered with books, pencils and paper. Lightning looks to her bed to see a Serah shaped lumps interrupting the flatness of the mattress.

"Serah, its 7:00, time to get up." Lightning speaks softly as she flicks the light switch to the on position, illuminating her room.

Serah squints painfully at the suddenly lit room. She gives a grunt of acknowledgment to her sister and rolls over on her back, pulling her pillow with her to cover her face in a desperate attempt to protect her eyes from the light.

"Remember, you have your finals in 55 minutes, don't be late." Lightning advises as she retreats her head from Serah's doorway.

Lightning walks across the hallway to her room. Lightning's room is much simpler in comparison to Serah's room. Her walls and furniture are white; the only sources of color in the room are from the dark red drapes that hang in front of her windows, giving everything in her room a crimson tint during the daytime, and the blankets on her bed, which match the color of her drapes.

Lightning sighs and removes the satchel from around her leg, followed by her gloves, arm sleeves and shoulder pad. She places each piece of her uniform neatly on the dresser across from her bed. She unbuckles the holster to her gunblade and hangs it on her bed frame. Lastly she removes her overcoat and hangs it over her gunblade. Lightning slithers into bed and sets her alarm for 9:30.

_**26 hours awake, two hours of sleep… seems fair.**_Lightning sarcastically thinks as she nods of to sleep.

Serah watches Lightning shut the door to her room. "Ok, just ten more minutes, and then I'll get up."

Serah closes her eyes for what feels like no longer then a blink, and then opens them to read the dreadful time on her clock on the nightstand.

"WHAT! 7:35!"

Serah flops out of bed, allowing the left side of her body to meet the floor. She quickly recovers from her morning stumble and dashes for the bathroom. She multitasks her morning routine. Brushing her teeth while washing her face, and then brushing her hair while putting on what little make-up she wears. She gathers the all the books and lose paper on her desk, and find the pencils with the least bite marks in it and tosses them in her bag. She looks back at the time.

"7:40. Wow, even Lightning might be impressed," Serah chuckled.

She sprinted out of her room, down the flight of stairs and set her targets on the front door. She reaches for the door knob when she looks down and notices that she has her slipper socks on, along with her red and pink, plaid pajama bottoms on and her undershirt.

"I knew I was making too good of time." Serah pouts as she heads back to her room and dresses in her usual black leggings, plaid skirt, white blouse and light pink cardigan.

"Round Two!" She yells as she successfully completes her second attempt at exiting her home.

Serah half walks, half runs down the street, turning her jog into an awkward trot. She checks the clock on her phone. 7:50.

"Ahh! There is no way I'm gonna make it on time!" She turns her amateurish amble into an all-out sprint. She does well for two blocks, but soon runs out of breath. She degrades down to walking. Her vision locked forward, she completely ignores the man riding up to her on a motorcycle.

"Hey their young Miss, can I interest you in a ride?" a voice asks her in a somewhat what arrogant, unnatural tone.

_**Of all days**__. _Serah thinks. Still looking forward, she replies, "No thank you sir, I am doing fine."

"Geez Serah, you don't even look at your boyfriend or take up his offer on giving you a ride to school." The voice returns to normal sound and assumes a somewhat naggy-wife, pouting-child tone.

Serah looks over and sees her high school sweetheart. "Snow!" She exclaims.

"Yeah, it's just me- hey, what the-."

Serah begins mounting his motorcycle and wraps her arms around his waist. "Hurry Snow! We only have five minutes today!"

"Geez!" Snow gives his motorcycle full throttle and they speed off towards Serah's school. "I hope you slept well at least." Snow looks behind and gives Serah a small, teasing wink.

"Just hurry," Serah says blushing. "Oh ya," Serah's blush disappears, "you're gonna meet my sister today, right?"

"Of course," Snow says with his head slightly turned at Serah, but with his eyes still on the road. He begins to slow down as they reach the school. "I'll pick you up after school, and we will head over to your house together."

"Sounds good," Serah says as she slides off of Snows bike. She begins running for school, "I'll see you later Snow." She yells while waving her arms. Snow lets out a big yawn, while waving returning Serah's wave.


	2. Chapter 2

Lightning's eyes flicker open as she hears the irritating tone of her alarm clock. She grudgingly reaches over and smacks the top of the source of her current irritation. Using the momentum from the violent attack, she rolls to a sitting position on the side of her bed. Lightning works her sore shoulder and neck for a moment, listening to the unnatural pops that and produced from simple rolls of each joint. She lets out a stream of air before standing to her feet, forcing each step she takes as she heads for the bathroom attached to her room. She splashes her face with cold water in hopes to eliminate the tired look from her face; unfortunately, to no avail. While drying her face, she looks over at the clock sitting by the sink. 9:37.

"I should have set my alarm for 9:00; a hot shower would have felt good." Lightning sulks as she dresses in her uniform.

She steps out of her room fully clothed to see a trail of what seems to be Serah's pajamas leading into her sister's doorway. Lightning lets a slight smile slip onto her face as she begins to pick the articles of clothing off of the floor. She walks into to Serah's room to see her bedspread tossed to one side of the floor and her closet door wide open. Lightning throws the pajamas on her bed, and smirks at the state of her sister's room.

"I hope she wasn't too late today." Lightning jokes as she walks to the front door. "She didn't even have time to lock the front door," Lightning says as she begins to step outside, remembering to lock the door behind her. "What a funny kid."

Lightning begins to casually walk to work. She ponders how to explain to the lieutenant what happened at lasts night's mission. _**I can't possibly tell him that a bunch of teenage civilians were able to prevent me from making the arrest of the criminal for eight hours after I found the criminal. Hell, I might be demoted back to Specialist if I told him that. **_Lightning thinks, _**But I have always been a horrible liar. **_Lightning kicks a stone off the sidewalk as she begins to slow her walking pace. _**Well, I'll just try my best to make the story sound somewhat spectacular rather than the truly pathetic truthful version. **_Lightning lets out a big sigh, and pushes the doors of the headquarters open.

"Corporal Farron, Lieutenant Amodar wants to see you." A uniformed solider says to Lightning.

Lightning nods and changes the direction of her step to head towards the office sector of the headquarters. Only soldiers ranked sergeant and higher receive an office to write their reports and do their paper work in. But only officers ranked higher then sergeant receive missions outside of the city boundaries that usually take two to three days at the shortest, compared to the work that soldiers ranked Corporal and below receive, which is just peace keeping within city boundaries.

Lightning lets out a short sigh and readies herself for evaluation. She opens the door calmly and enters the office.

"Ahh, Farron. In all honesty I wasn't expecting you too come in considering how late you were out on your mission last night. But please sit down." Amodar says as he begins to kick his feet up on the desk.

Lightning sits down as naturally as she can, avoiding any eye contact at her superior.

"Tell me Farron, how is that corporal pay treating you?"

"It treats about as well as it sounds, sir," Lightning says as she begins to pick up her head.

Amodar laughs, "Yea, it's not much to get by on is it. And you are looking out for your younger sister too, it must be hard. " Amodar stands up and turns to the wall behind his desk which is decorated in metals. "I have been reviewing your history as a soldier Farron. Missed two days of work in your entire career, completed every mission ever given to you, independent of whether or not you have help. You never complain about your work load. Farron, you are a perfect soldier."

_**But… **_Lightning thinks.

"But…" Amodar continues, "I don't think your title accurately displays your abilities as a soldier."

Lightning's head shoots up and meets Amodars smiling eyes. "Sir?" Lightning questions.

"A week ago, I sent your file into Guardian Corps HQ in Eden; I requested you receive a promotion. They finally mailed me back. It seems like they agree that you're long over do for a promotion. Congratulations Farron." Amodar turns to give Lightning a manila envelope.

Lightning stands to receive the envelope. She opens it and sees a rank stripe, meant to be put on her shoulder pad and under that a certificate authenticating the rank of sergeant addressed to her. Lightning's eyes lock with Amodar's.

_**Is it possible that he forgot about my screw up with my mission last night?**_ Lightning thinks.

"What's the matter Farron, you got something to say?" Amodar asks.

"No, Sir. I mean- yes, Sir. I mean… Thank you very much." Lightning finally stutters.

Amodar smiles, "Here is your office number, also…" Amodar reaches over and grabs a paper and another envelope out of a pile, "Here is your new pay." Amodar hands over a chart along with a check. "Keep up the good work Farron, you are dismissed."

Lightning tucks the papers she received into the large manila envelope and awkwardly walks out of the office. She pulls the small card with her office number on it out of the envelope. She begins to walk down the hall way, scanning each room number until she finds the one that matches the one on the card.

"216, eh," she arrives at the door and gently twist the door knob and pushes the door open, as if she doesn't want to break anything. Behind the door is an office, about twelve feet by ten feet, with a ten foot high ceiling. The back wall is one giant window, displaying an impressive view of the seaside. In front of the window is a six foot long desk, with one chair behind it (closest to the window) and two chairs in front of it. The wall left of the desk is covered by a large, black, wooden book case and the wall to the right is decorated by a painted on Guardian Core insignia.

Lightning shut the door behind her and assumed her seat behind the desk. She began to more thoroughly review the contents of the manila envelope. A simple certificate addressed to her stating that she is promoted. She quickly tossed that aside and found the chart displaying payment by rank. She scrolled up to wear the Sergeant pay is addressed. She lets out a slight gasp and smile. She quickly reaches for the check that was also handed to her. She removes the envelope to the check as if it were a mere candy wrapper. She analyzes the check to see if it matched to amount of the chart. She half smiles and lets out a single laugh. "What on Cocoon am I going to do with all this money?" She remarks as she leans back on her chair and spins around to look out the window behind her.

* * *

"Calculus isn't math! It has freaking exclamation points in it!" Serah over hears her friend say as she begins to back her bag. Her friend glances over to see her reaction to her statement, hoping for agreement. "Hello? Cocoon to Serah? Shouldn't you be more attentive to your friend who just failed her math final?"

"Oh sorry. I was thinking about later on today." Serah says, grabbing her bag as the two girls walk out of the classroom.

"Oh ya, huh? Snow is going to meet Lightning today. How do you think that will go?" The friend asks in a compassionate tone.

"I dunno. I'm sure it will go fine as long as Snow… Well... Snow and Lightning both behave. I'm only nervous because the two of them are such polar opposites." Serah replies, running scenario after scenario of the meeting through her head.

"I'm more nervous for Lightning than for Snow, Snow hate Guardian Core and politicians, right?"

"Yea he does, and worse, I haven't told him that my sister is Guardian Core." Serah sighs, "Well, he'll just have to accept it." She says to her friend in an optimistic voice. "And besides, be more worried for Snow, likelihood is that my sister will either beat the living daylights out of him or threaten him to a point that it might scare him off to a neighboring city." Serah giggles as she tries to imagine the look on Lightning's face.

The two girls walk out of the main entrance of their school. "I'll call you later~," Serah yells as she waves goodbye to her friend. She looks forward and sees Snow casually sitting on his motorcycle staring at what seems to be something behind her.

"What cha looking at?" Serah asks as she turns around in an attempt to see what Snow sees.

"Nothing. Just looking at you." Snow says casually.

"Well, I think I'm something." Serah says scoffingly as she mounts the motorcycle.

"Heh, well, where to milady?" Snow says as he sits up properly in a posh tone.

"Home, dear sir." Serah replies in a similar tone.

The two of them speed of into the distance. Snow lets out a big yawn.

"You shouldn't yawn while on a motorcycle," Serah giggles "Imagine how many bugs you just swallowed."

Snow makes a twisted face.

"Besides, what's got ya so tired?" Serah asks, giggling at Snows face.

"Just had a late night. Heroes don't get the best hours." Snow says while desperately trying to suppress his yawns.

Serah rests her head against Snow's back for the rest of the ride. She stares off into the ocean as they drive by, watching the happy families playing on the sand and taking in the suns warmth. The scenic road ends as the pull through the center of Bodhum. Towering glass buildings block the view of the ocean, but the shade produced from the building has cooled the air. It feels relaxing on their faces as they drive through the city. Within minutes, the city slowly turns into suburbs. Serah realizes that they are arriving to her house. She watches the similar scenery go by as they turn onto her street. Serah turns her head to look forward again as they arrive at her house. Snow parks by the curb, and they both slide off.

"Alright, I'm ready to do this." Snow says as he peps himself up for the meeting. "It'll be a piece of cake." Snow says looking at Serah. _**I hope so. **_Serah thinks as she forces a smile back at Snow. The couple walks up the stone stairs to the front door. Serah slides her key into the lock and invites Snow inside. Snow nervously looks around.

"Hey, where is your sister at?" Snow asks.

"I guess she is working late today. She has really random hours sometime." Serah says as she also looks around for lightning.

"Well I guess we will wait. How 'bout some lunch though, I'm starving." Snow says and he flops down on the couch in the living room. "Man I can't tell you how long it's been since I've watched T.V." Snow chuckles as reaches for the remote.

Normally, Serah would be upset and tell him this isn't a fieldtrip, but she's so focus on Snow meeting Lightning. She walks in the kitchen and grabs a bag of chips and tosses it at Snow. "Hey Snow, what do you think my sister will be like?"

"Hmmm," the bag of chips opens "I imagine her to be like you." Snow says optimistically. "You know: a little shy, compassionate, upbeat, good sense of humor, and gentle. She would have to be all those things to raise a younger sister as perfect as you."

_**Wow. I didn't think that he could be so wrong in his image of her. **_Serah thinks as her face slowly matches what she is thinking.

"Alright. Ground Rules." Serah declares. "Number one: Let me do the talking. Number two: Only speak when spoken too. Number Three: Don't be too mad at me."

"Why would I be mad at you?" Snow questions concerningly.

The front door clicks open.


	3. Chapter 3

Lightning finishes applying her second stripe onto her shoulder pad. A surge of accomplishment rushes through her body. She even lets a small smile come on to her face. "Well, I suppose things could be worse." Lightning sarcastically thinks as she spins her chair around to look out the window. She gazes out the window, still taking in all that has happened to her today. She was expecting to possibly be demoted when she came into work today, never in her wildest dreams would she have imagined that she would get promoted today, or this year. Her train of thought is quickly interrupted as she hears the door to her office click open. She twists her chair around to face the door to greet her guest.

"Sargent Farron?" Asks the soldier who appears to hold the rank of private.

"How can I help you, Private?" Lightning asks with a stoic look on her face.

"I have a delivery from the front desk." The soldier looks down at the three inch stack of paper in his hand. "It mainly consists of your new contract with Guardian Core and confirmation of your acceptance of your promotion, ma'am." The private states, as he stares just above Lightning's head.

"Why do I need a new contract?" Lightning asks with a bewilder tone.

"They told me it was just a part of the promotion ma'am." The soldier states, as he walks towards Lightning's desk and places the stack in front of Lightning. "The front desk requests that you return the papers to them when you have completed them. They also ask, if at all possible, if you could complete the papers by the end of today." The soldier gives a salute and walks out of the office.

Lightning glares at the pile of papers. She absolutely loathes paperwork. That is all she did, when she wasn't in training, as private. Fill out paper, place on stack. Deliver stack, repeat. She practically had to chain herself down to the desk to complete it all in the given time frame. She continues to glare down the paperwork as if it were her old rival. She begins to slowly reach for the pens in the far left corner of her desk as she spreads out the papers on her desk. She gives a deep, deep sigh and then begins initialing paper after paper, not even bothering to read the paper. She figures that it doesn't matter what the papers say because if she has a problem with it, she can kiss her salary and life style goodbye.

The battle between Lightning and paper rages for three hours, she initial, signs, and dates every paper accordingly. As she signed her final signature, she dots the single "I" in her name especially violent, leaving a small indent in the wood desk. She wastes no time in re-stacking the papers and begins walking rather vigorously down the hall to the main desk. She slams through the double doors leading to the lobby and locks the front desk in her vision. Her strides become wider and faster. She arrives at the desk and holds the three inch stack of papers two feet above the desk.

"Here." Lightning says calmly, as she drops the papers on to the desk. Her tone was calm but the look in her eyes tells a totally different story. Even a pack of raging Behemoths would think twice about attacking her. The lady at the desk evens the stack of papers rudely dropped on the desk by the raging soldier

"Anything else, Sargent Farron?" The woman at the desk asks tauntingly

"Tch," Lightning scoffs as she begins to head back to her office. She looks at the clock above the double doors she is about to walk through. 5:00 PM. Relief breaks through Lightning's body. Her shoulders drop down to a more relax position. _**Quitting time. Thank the Maker. **_Lightning thinks as she returns to her office to grab her gun-blade and turn off the lights. She calmly walks down the hall for the second time today. She pops her next and massages her hand from the vicious paperwork battle. _**If being a Sargent means I have to do more paper work, I might opt for a demotion. **_Lightning thinks as she walks through the doors of headquarters.

Lightning walks for a few minutes to the bank nearby. She deposits her check she received from work then heads toward the grocery store. She picks up some fruit and bottled water. She walks down the freezer section and spots ice cream. She stops midway in her stride and thinks about the practicality of buying such a frozen treat. Looks both ends of the aisle, checking to make sure she is alone. She quickly grabs the container of ice cream, slings it in her basket with such speed that she would put her own name to shame. She continues to furtively walk towards the check out. Lightning watches with precision as the cashier scans each of her items. From the Lightning's blatant stare, the cashier's hands begin to shake slightly as he scans her last item. Lightning swipes her card grabs her two bags of groceries and heads for home.

* * *

Serah hears the door click.

"Hide!" She half squeals, half whispers.

Snow, taken back by the urgency of Serah's voices, jumps behind the coach with her. "Why are we hiding?" He whispers.

"Sorry, I got startled, just stay here for now." Serah says as she immerges from behind the coach. She walks into the front room and sees Lightning with her groceries.

"Hey Serah, I brought ice cream." Lightning says, trying to not let any sense of joy be perceived in the tone of her voice.

"Wow, sis. That is very unlike you." Serah says, gawking at Lightning. They walk into the kitchen and begin to put the groceries away. Serah musters up the courage again. "Hey, Light, what would you think if I got a boyfriend?" Serah questions nervously.

"I wouldn't care too much. As long as the guy you date wasn't a total idiot, and he was nice to you, I would be fine with it." Lightning rambles.

"Really?!" Serah squeaks.

"Sure. Why? Do you have a boyfriend?" Lightning questions nervously.

"Actually, yeah. And he is kinda behind the couch." Serah says, walking over to the couch. "We kinda got startled when you came home."

Lightning turns to the couch and raises her eyebrow and crosses her arms.

"Eh hem," Snow grunts.

"Well, I kinda got startled." Serah giggles. "Here, this is Snow." Serah introduces as she yanks on Snow's arm to pull him out behind the couch.

"Hello, I am Snow Villiers." Snow introduces himself as he bows slightly to Lightning. "You must be Lightning, I have-"

Snow stops speaking when he looks at Lightning's face and immediately recognizes her as the soldier who interfered and took the criminal he was going to capture early this morning. Lightning seems to be thinking the same thing.

Lightning's expression hardens, "You have a lot of guts coming to my home, punk."

Serah gasps, "Lightning be nice-"

Snow interrupts, "I could never have imagined that Serah's older sister was some Sanctum dog." Snow hisses at Lightning.

Lightning realizes the severity of the situation. "You mean this idiot is your boyfriend?" Lightning turns to face Serah.

Serah's face cringes at the question. "Yes, Lightning. He is." She suddenly feels enraged by her sister's outbursts, "What's the matter with you Lightning, literally five minutes ago you said you were okay with me having a boyfriend. What has Snow done to deserve this treatment?"

"To be precise, this morning at 6:30, he interfered with a Guardian Core mission and delayed me to the point of returning to base hours late. He is a fool, leading around a group of kids trying to catch dangerous murderers." Lightning scowls as she walk up to Serah staring her in the eye.

"We aren't trying to do anything," Snow interrupts the sisters' conversation, "We are protecting the city, just like what you are trying to do. The only difference is, NORA doesn't have to obey procedure and wait for a Sanctum master to tell us what to do!" Snow yells. "We are giving this city real justice!"

"Heh," Lightning sarcastically chuckles as she turns to face Snow, "It seemed like you had the situation handled with that criminal this morning. When I finally found you kids, you had a gun to your head while you friends were completely at a loss of what to do." Lightning matter-of-factly responds.

"I had everything under control!" Snow yelled.

Serah was mortified by the situation that was unveiling in her kitchen. This is complete and total warfare. She knew she had to stop it, but she had no idea where to start. _**How do you stop wars Serah?**_Serah pondered. _**… OH! Stalemate! But would leaving these two to battle it out for that long help? Gosh! I have no idea what to do!**_

Serah's train of thought was interrupted when she saw Lightning beginning to charge at Snow. On impulse, Serah ran in-between the two raging beings.

"Lightning, just stop! You too Snow!" Serah said emphasizing her point by looking both Snow and Lightning in the eyes for a few seconds each. Serah grabbed Snow's hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "Were going out Light, try to calm down, please." Serah said calmly.

"I don't want you going anywhere with this idiot! I'm going to get a call telling me that you were killed because of something that this fool did!" Lightning began to shout.

"I would never—" Snow began but only to be interrupted by Serah.

"SHUSH, both of you!" Serah finally yelled. Lightning and Snow were both taken back by the sheer volume of Serah's voice. "I wasn't asking for you permission Light, we are going out. I'll be back tonight… Then we can talk" Serah calmed down and lead Snow out of her house. Lightning never broke eye contact with him as he walked behind Serah. Upon hearing the click of the front door, Lightning relaxed her body posture and stood staring at the front door.

_**If Serah ever comes home hurt, or crying, that idiot is dead.**_ Lightning thought. She took a deep inhale and let out an equally deep exhale. Lightning rolled her shoulder and cracked her neck as she tried to relax. She spotted the groceries on the counter and finished putting them away. She put them all away except for the ice cream.

_**Looks like it's going to be you and me for a while, ice cream. **_


	4. Chapter 4

"Why didn't you tell me about your sister?!" Snow interrogated.

"Cause I had a feeling it would end up like this," Serah nervously responded. "If I would of known that you two had problems with each other, I definitely would have put of this meeting for a while." Serah watched as Snow paced around his motorcycle in front of her house. She had never seen him this angry before and this is the first time that she was almost scared to be around him.

"You're not mad at me, right?" Serah asked sadly. Snow, sensing the melancholic tone in Serah's voice, exhaled deeply and shook out his arms, trying to release some of the pent up anger he had from his and Lightning's little shout off inside.

"No. I could never be mad at you." Snow said as he plastered is signature dorky grin on his face. _**If anything, I love ya more! I get to date my dream girl, and tick of a Sanctum tool all at once. **_Snow thought, but he knew better than to speak his mind. He chuckled at the thought. "Come here~." Snow continued as he opened his arms towards Serah.

Serah smiled as she heard Snow's voice return to his happy, go-lucky tone. She gleefully ran, almost skipped, into Snow's arms as he wrapped his arms around her. "Well, its dinner time in my book. How about you and I go out for dinner and then head over to the beach and watch the sun set?" Snow purposed. "That outta take our minds off of the mess that happened earlier."

Serah pulled herself out of the hug and gave a nod. "Sounds like a date!" she said in a chipper voice. Snow winked. "I wouldn't want it any other way."

* * *

_**This is disgusting. **_Lightning thought as she furtively watched Serah and Snow hug from living room window. She continued to eat copious amounts of strawberry ice cream as she watched this tragic scene unfold. When they finally finished their hug, she watched as the couple mounted onto Snow's motorcycle and drove away. She couldn't help to think that Snow purposely reeved his engine as he pulled away from her house, just a little slap in the face before he took her sister away.

_**I bet that kid doesn't even have a license or insurance for that matter. I'll have to look into that when I head to work tomorrow. **_ She took a large bite of strawberry ice cream as she traveled back into the kitchen and looked at the T.V room that was connected to the kitchen. _**What would mom and dad do? Their youngest daughter comes home with a boy who chases after criminals for fun. Would they say it was just a phase, or would they say it was a problem? **_Lightning exhaled as she saw that her ice cream bowl was empty.

She opened the freezer and grabbed the tub of strawberry ice cream. She abandoned her bowl at the sink and headed to the couch, armed with the tub of ice cream and a spoon. Lightning turned on the T.V and flicked through channels till she arrived at the news.

"Up after the break, will Bodhum ever be peaceful? News of one serial killer's arrest and as well as news of a new killer roaming Bodhum. Coming up, after the break," the anchorman announced before the channel went to commercial.

_**Now, what if that idiot decides to bring Serah along searching for this killer? And, what if she got hurt?**_Lightning began to psych herself out by thinking of tormenting situations of Serah being hurt by some freak because some guy in a hobo outfit told her that is was a good idea to go running after criminals for fun. _**That's it, if she's not home by ten; I'm reporting her as kidnapped. **_

Lightning kept staring at the T.V hoping something interesting would come up and draw her attention away from the fact that her sister is dating a border line lunatic. She rolled her neck around and heard copious amounts of popping coming from simple rolls of the joint. She repeated the same action with her shoulder and got the same results.

_**I need to relax. Serah is better than this. She would never do anything that would get herself killed… I hope. **_Lightning stood up with her empty tub of ice cream. She returned to the kitchen and checked on the time. _**GOD! Has it really only been a half hour since they left?! **_Lightning thought as she stood in front of the microwave, running her hands through her hair. _**I got to get out of here. Do something to take my mind off of all this. **_

With that thought and some speed to Lightning's step, Lightning got dressed back into her Guardian Corps uniform, grabbed her gun blade, and headed to find something more distracting.

* * *

"Say Serah, tell me more about your sister," Snow causally asked as he sipped some of his vanilla milkshake. Serah looked at him with her face plastered with obvious confusion. "Why do you want to know?" She said just before she ate a french-fry. "I mean, it's not like you two really got along real well when you first met."

"Exactly! Maybe if I knew more about her, my mere existence wouldn't offend her so much, ya know?" Snow exasperated. "How bout we just start with simple questions, like how old is she?" Serah saw the desperate curiosity in Snow's face and couldn't help but to giggle at his determination.

"Well, believe it or not, she is the same age as you." Serah watch as Snow choked on his vanilla milkshake. She didn't know that having a sister, that was the same age as your boyfriend, would be so surprising. Furthermore, she wasn't expecting to see a battle between milkshake and pharynx rage on for a solid minute. "Uh, Hero? You ok?" Serah asked concerningly. Snow drank Serah's glass of water and returned to a state of body that was able to respond to her question.

"Sorry, I was just a little surprised." Snow said as he continued sipping Serah's water. "Yeaaaa, I kinda gathered that from the server choking that just occurred," Serah smugly answered, "Why is my sister being the same age as you so surprising?"

"Well, she has treated me like I was younger than her ever since I encountered her, and she is very, well… Scary, so I just accepted that she was older than me. But now that I know she is the same age as me… Well, it just levels the playing field" Snow grinned at Serah, but Serah was not as impressed with Snow's behavior.

"You know, I expect you to behave yourself around my sister too. I know you don't like the Sanctum in any of its forms, but she is my sister, so if you love me, you have to accept her too." Serah spoke with a stern voice. Snow furrowed his brow and began to ready a comeback, but Serah seemed to know where the conversation was going. "I know that she started it," Serah interrupted Snow before he could speak, "and I'll talk to her about that tonight, but you continued it, so how about we just forget today happened and try again later when the two of you are both calm, sound good?" Serah asked cheekily and she reached over to take a sip of whatever remained of Snow's milkshake.

Snow laughed at the cute tone of Serah's voice. "Alright mom, sorry you had to go through all that trouble of lecturing me. And whenever you think is a good time for me to meet your sister, just let me know. I'll be ready whenever." Snow said, reaching over to commandeer the remainder of his milkshake from Serah. Serah leaned back, preventing Snow from grabbing the milkshake and she enjoyed finishing off the frozen desert. Serah giggled as she saw Snow's face sadden immediately when she set down the empty plastic cup that was once full of vanilla milkshake. "Come on~ lets go watch the sunset," Serah said as she got up and went to grab Snow's arm. Snow seemed content to sit and stare at the empty cup sitting at the table. "If you were so attached to it, don't drink my water next time," Serah winked as she pulled Snow out his chair then out of the restaurant.

After Lightning the house, she began to aimlessly wonder the streets of Bodhum. She weaved through alley ways and received questionable looks and glances from pedestrians roaming the streets (Guardian Corps Officer's always seemed to be shunned from society. Society only accepted there presence when there was trouble or a situation that needed to be handled, any other time; they just made civilians feel nervous.) . She never noticed their precarious glances though; she was too lost in her own thoughts to notice them.

After 30 minutes of walking around the seaside city, her feet suddenly just stopped. The sudden halt in her step caused Lightning to snap out of her spiraling train of thought, and look around and examine the environment her feet had carried her to. Once recognized her destination, she couldn't help but to laugh, she was at Guardian Corps HQ. She supposed working overtime would be a suitable way to take her mind off of Serah for a while. She thanked her feet for the distraction as she walked through the entrance of the building.

* * *

"Uh, Sergeant! What brings you here at this hour? I thought you were only working the afternoon shift today?" The Private standing guard sluggishly by the door propped himself into pristine posture to greet an officer.

"At ease soldier, and I decided to work some overtime today," Lightning said as she walked past the young man without evening glancing at him.

Lightning walked briskly to the office sector of Head Quarters. Anyone could tell by the vigor in her steps that she was angry. Lower officers step to the side of the hallway to allow her passage and salute her as she walked past them. She nodded, acknowledging them briefly. She arrived at her office and agitatedly shut the door.

_**First thing's first. **_Lightning thought as she slid into her chair to face the computer sitting on her desk. She logged on and pulled up the civilian registrar. She dragged her curser to the search box and type '_Snow Villiers' _into the bar and brutally hit the enter key. A few seconds later a new window flashed upon her screen with all of the information the Sanctum had about Snow.

"Age" Lightning said as she scrolled though his data. She stuttered "20?!"

Lightning was amazed. For the longest time, she thought that Snow and Serah were the same age. _**How did a 17 year old school girl meet a 20 year old adrenalin junky? The only excuse I'll accept is that he was help back for three years in high school. **_Lightning shook the thought out of here head and continued to scroll though his data.

'_Criminal Record'_ was the next section. Four accounts of minor obstruction of justice. _**Maybe I should have charged him for getting in my way so we could have made it a solid 5. **_She gave a single cynical laugh and continued scrolling.

Lightning read each scrutinizing detail of Snow's life. '_Damaged property due to reckless driving, speeding tickets, public indecency.'_ Lightning feel her stress level go through the roof. _**If this guy wants to save the city so badly, it'd be best if he just didn't leave his house. He's got quite the record. **_

Lightning finally arrived at the section labeled_, 'Family'. _Her heart sunk as she read the details. She could read about misdemeanors and petty crimes all day, but Snow's family history resonated deep within her.

'_Father: Deceased'_

'_Mother: Deceased'_

Lightning exhaled a stream of air as she leaned back in her chair. _**Damn it. Now we have something in common**_. Lightning thought as she ran her fingers through her hair. _**Maybe that is why Serah is so drawn to him; he is everything I am not: rebellious, easy going, and she can relate to him. **_Lightning shrugged.

Lightning knew that Serah loved her and she loved Serah, but when their parent's died, Lightning lost something. Either it is because of lack feeling compassion or lack of communicating with people normally or comfortably, Lightning lost the ability to bond with other people. Serah must of suffered when Lightning became her guardian; not only did she lose her parents, but she lost part of her sister, and she couldn't open up to Lightning because Lightning didn't know what to say or do with the feelings that Serah would tell her. But throughout the years Lightning has only wanted one thing for Serah: her happiness. If this man was making her happy, Lightning has no choice but to allow it, even if it makes Lightning uneasy.

Lightning spun her chair around to look out the large glass window that compromised the entire wall behind her. She gazed down at the ocean as it lit up with the colors of sunset, turning the water beautiful autumn colors. Her office did truly have a specular view of Bodhum. It was her own vantage point in the sky, giving her heighted joy because she loved the sensation of being up high. She let her eyes wonder from gazing at the beach to staring at the city as she turned her head to the left. She relaxed in her chair. She rested her elbow on the armrest of the chair, and her head in her hand. _**I suppose I just have to leave her be for a while. **_Lightning thought. _**But that doesn't mean I have to be nice to this "Snow" guy though. **_

Lightning sat day dreaming until she heard a knock on her door.


End file.
